Want to add visual flair to your Excel dashboards without using complex charts? In this tip, you'll learn how to create a sleek, text-based progress bar using nothing but a simple formula.

This trick is especially useful when tracking progress percentages across tasks, projects, or goals in a clean, minimalist way.

💡 No VBA. No add-ins. Just a smart use of the REPT function.

Excel_Report


🔧 The Formula

=REPT("●", ROUND(L11*10, 0)) & REPT("○", 10 - ROUND(L11*10, 0))

This formula creates a 10-character progress bar by repeating:

  • Filled circles (●) to show progress

  • Empty circles (○) to show remaining steps


🔍 How It Works

Let’s break it down:

REPT("●", ROUND(L11*10, 0))

  • L11 holds your percentage value (e.g., 0.75 for 75%)

  • Multiply by 10 to scale it for 10 segments → 0.75 * 10 = 7.5

  • Round to the nearest whole number → ROUND(7.5, 0) = 8

  • Repeat the symbol 8 times → ●●●●●●●●

REPT("○", 10 - ROUND(L11*10, 0))

  • Subtract from 10 → 10 - 8 = 2

  • Repeat the symbol 2 times → ○○


✅ Final Output:

●●●●●●●●○○

This visualizes that your project is 80% complete in an easy-to-read, text-based format — perfect for tables, compact dashboards, or KPI summaries.


🧠 Pro Tip:

You can change the symbols to anything else that fits your theme:

  • 🔵 ⚪️

  • ▓ ░

  • █ ▄

  • ✅ ❌

Just replace the characters in the formula accordingly.


📌 Why Use This Instead of a Chart?

  • Simple to insert in cells or tables

  • No need to format axis, labels, or colors

  • Easily copy-paste into dashboards or reports

  • Compatible with Google Sheets too!


🔗 Want More?

Explore our full collection of dashboard tricks and Excel tutorials:


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